LCC president tapped for national fellowship program

Lane Community College President Stephanie Bulger is one of 23 community college leaders selected for a national fellowship program that will allow her to explore ways to help LCC build economic vitality countywide.

The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program announced the members of its 2026-27 Aspen Presidents Fellowship — all community college presidents — on Wednesday, March 25. Bulger is the only participant from an Oregon college.

The yearlong program provides participants with resources and connections to help them craft what it calls “reform agendas” at their institutions. The idea is to help more students land good jobs, either after completing community college or transferring to other schools.

That mission ties into work Bulger has been doing for years, even before she took the helm at LCC, she said in an interview.

“Over the time that I’ve been working with community colleges, I’ve been working on that value proposition of really helping the community raise itself economically,” she said. The fellowship should allow that work to shift into a higher gear.

Participants in the program work with other community college presidents, Aspen staff and each other to analyze their labor markets, outcomes at their own colleges and lessons from other successful institutions. Bulger said Aspen staff already are gathering data to help create a workbook about LCC for the fellowship.

The fellowship includes two residential sessions, each lasting three days. Costs are covered by the Aspen Institute, although participants are responsible for travel expenses. 

Although it’s early in the fellowship, Bulger said she was interested in focusing her efforts on two specific demographics:

• One involves 25- to 35-year-old people who took classes at LCC but left without a degree or credential. “We’ll be taking a closer look at the data to see who those individuals are, what they’re doing now,” she said, and examining ways to get them back to school “for additional credentials as they are moving along in their own social and economic mobility.”

• The other demographic involves people in the so-called “ALICE” category — asset-limited, income-constrained and employed. They earn more than the federal poverty level but not enough to cover the cost of living. A 2024 report from United Way of Lane County found that 47% of the county’s households fall into that category. Bulger hopes to explore ways in which LCC can improve their economic prospects. 

Bulger said she intends for her work during the fellowship year to focus on all of Lane County, not just the Eugene-Springfield area.

The county includes places like “Mapleton and Florence and Cottage Grove and Oakridge and everything in between,” she said. “We want to engage with those communities as well.”

And she emphasized that LCC won’t be working in a vacuum. “It will be in conjunction with our community partners in multiple places, so that we can decide on what we want to work on together.”

She said the fellowship is an opportunity not just for LCC, but for all of Lane County.

“We have the opportunity to be a leader, but also a very, very good partner, doing what we do best, which is workforce and talent development,” she said. “What I see is a community story across Lane County, and I think that is where the contribution and the impact will be. That’s what I’m excited about.”